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USDOT Air Travel Consumer Report Now Includes More Complete Airline Data

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) today issued its monthly Air Travel Consumer Report (ATCR), which, for the first time since its inception more than 30 years ago, contains data on domestic flights that are marketed by the mainline carriers, but operated by the mainline carriers’ regional codeshare affiliates.

Previously, numbers were only reported for domestic flights performed by reporting carriers with at least one-half of one percent of the total scheduled-service domestic passenger revenue. Flight performance numbers by reporting carriers continue to be included separately in the ATCR, but the report now also includes the addition of the airline service quality data by marketing carriers.

Airlines were required to begin reporting marketing carrier data to USDOT beginning with January 2018 numbers. However, the previous monthly reports did not contain the new data as the data was withheld in order to allow accuracy reviews. Today, the new data is available in the re-issued ATCRs from March 2018 (January 2018 data) through July 2018 (May 2018 data), along with the new August (June 2018 data) and new September 2018 (July 2018 data) reports.

The August and September ATCRs, issued today, includes June and July 2018 on-time performance, cancellations, and complaints data. The August ATCR includes second-quarter 2018 overbooking (bumping) numbers for branded codeshare flights. During the past six months, branded codeshare partners accounted for more than 25 percent of the passengers carried and more than half of the domestic flights. With this new ATCR, the flying public will see a more complete picture of the performance of scheduled passenger service, which will make the report even more useful to consumers.

The full ATCRs and other aviation consumer matters of interest to the public can be found at http://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer. The full list of codeshare partners is available on page 5 of the ATCR.

July On-Time Performance

In July 2018, marketing carriers posted an on-time arrival rate of 76.0 percent, down slightly from the 76.4 percent on-time rate in June 2018. On-time numbers for marketing carriers were not reported in previous years.

Highest Marketing Carrier On-Time Arrival Rates (ATCR Table 1)

Hawaiian Airlines Network – 91.5 percent

Alaska Airlines Network – 84.1 percent

Delta Air Lines Network– 81.9 percent

Lowest Marketing Carrier On-Time Arrival Rates (ATCR Table 1)

Frontier Airlines – 59.7 percent

Allegiant Air – 67.0 percent

JetBlue Airways – 67.2 percent

In July 2018, reporting carriers posted an on-time arrival rate of 75.9 percent, down from the 76.6 percent on-time rate in June 2018 and down from 76.9 percent in July 2017.

Highest Reporting Carrier On-Time Arrival Rates (ATCR Table 1A)

Hawaiian Airlines – 92.6 percent

Delta Air Lines – 83.4 percent

Alaska Airlines – 82.9 percent

Lowest Reporting Carrier On-Time Arrival Rates (ATCR Table 1A)

Frontier Airlines – 59.7 percent

Allegiant Air – 67.0 percent

JetBlue Airways – 67.2 percent

June On-Time Performance

In June 2018, marketing carriers posted an on-time arrival rate of 76.4 percent, down from the 79.2 percent on-time rate in May 2018. On-time numbers for marketing carriers were not reported in previous years.

Highest Marketing Carrier On-Time Arrival Rates (ATCR Table 1)

Hawaiian Airlines Network – 88.4 percent

Alaska Airlines Network – 83.7 percent

Delta Air Lines Network– 81.5 percent

Lowest Marketing Carrier On-Time Arrival Rates (ATCR Table 1)

Frontier Airlines – 60.3 percent

Allegiant Air – 69.7 percent

American Airlines Network – 72.4 percent

In June 2018, reporting carriers posted an on-time arrival rate of 76.6 percent, down from the 79.4 percent on-time rate in May 2018 but up from 76.2 percent in June 2017.

Highest Reporting Carrier On-Time Arrival Rates (ATCR Table 1A)

Hawaiian Airlines – 90.7 percent

Alaska Airlines – 82.4 percent

Delta Air Lines – 81.5 percent

Lowest Reporting Carrier On-Time Arrival Rates (ATCR Table 1A)

Frontier Airlines – 60.3 percent

PSA Airlines – 61.6 percent

Allegiant Air – 69.7 percent

July Cancellations

In July 2018, marketing carriers canceled 1.8 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, equal to the 1.8 percent cancellation rate in May 2018. Cancellation numbers for marketing carriers were not reported in previous years.

Lowest Marketing Carrier Rates of Canceled Flights (ATCR Table 6)

Hawaiian Airlines Network – 0.5 percent

Delta Air Lines Network – 0.7 percent

Alaska Airlines Network – 0.8 percent

Highest Marketing Carrier Rates of Canceled Flights (ATCR Table 6)

Frontier Airlines – 3.8 percent

American Airlines Network – 3.0 percent

JetBlue Airways – 2.4 percent

In July 2018, reporting carriers canceled 1.7 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, equal to the 1.7 percent cancellation rate in May 2018 and up from 1.1 percent in July 2017.

Lowest Reporting Carrier Rates of Canceled Flights (ATCR Table 6A)

Hawaiian Airlines – 0.1 percent

Delta Air Lines – 0.1 percent

United Airlines – 0.7 percent

Highest Reporting Carrier Rates of Canceled Flights (ATCR Table 6A)

Republic Airline – 4.2 percent

Envoy Air – 4.1 percent

Frontier Airlines – 3.8 percent

June Cancellations

In June 2018, marketing carriers canceled 1.8 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, up from the 1.3 percent cancellation rate in May 2018. Cancellation numbers for marketing carriers were not reported in previous years.

Lowest Marketing Carrier Rates of Canceled Flights (ATCR Table 6)

Delta Air Lines Network – 0.3 percent

Spirit Airlines – 0.5 percent

Alaska Airlines Network – 0.9 percent

Highest Marketing Carrier Rates of Canceled Flights (ATCR Table 6)

American Airlines Network – 4.2 percent

Frontier Airlines – 2.9 percent

Allegiant Air – 2.3 percent

In June 2018, reporting carriers canceled 1.7 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, up from the 1.2 percent cancellation rate in May 2018 and from 1.1 percent in June 2017.

Lowest Reporting Carrier Rates of Canceled Flights (ATCR Table 6A)

Delta Air Lines – 0.2 percent

Hawaiian Airlines – 0.3 percent

United Airlines – 0.5 percent

Highest Reporting Carrier Rates of Canceled Flights (ATCR Table 6A)

PSA Airlines – 13.9 percent

Envoy Air – 4.7 percent

Frontier Airlines – 2.9 percent

July Tarmac Delays

In July 2018, airlines reported 29 tarmac delays of more than three hours on domestic flights, compared to 25 such tarmac delays reported in June 2018 and 16 tarmac delays reported in July 2017. In July 2018, airlines reported one tarmac delay of more than four hours on international flights, compared to two such tarmac delays reported in June 2018 and seven tarmac delays reported in July 2017. Extended tarmac delays are investigated by the Department.

United flight 160 from Munich, Germany to Houston Bush, 7/28/18 – delayed 4 hours and 8 minutes on the tarmac at Boston after being diverted

There were no other international flight tarmac delays of more than four hours in July.

June Tarmac Delays

In June 2018, airlines reported 25 tarmac delays of more than three hours on domestic flights, compared to 12 such tarmac delays reported in May 2018 and seven tarmac delays reported in June 2017. In June 2018, airlines reported two tarmac delays of more than four hours on international flights, compared to four such tarmac delays reported in May 2018 and two tarmac delays reported in June 2017. Extended tarmac delays are investigated by the Department.

All Nippon Airways flight 109 from New York JFK to Tokyo Haneda, Japan, 6/24/18 – delayed 4 hours and 50 minutes on the tarmac at New York JFK

Norwegian Air flight 7015 from London Gatwick to New York JFK, 6/25/18 – delayed 4 hours and 37 minutes on the tarmac at New York JFK

Mishandled Baggage

In July 2018, the reporting carriers posted a mishandled baggage rate of 3.11 reports per 1,000 passengers, down slightly from the June 2018 rate of 3.16, but up from June 2018’s rate of 2.80.

In June 2018, the reporting carriers posted a mishandled baggage rate of 3.16 reports per 1,000 passengers, up from both June 2017’s rate of 2.66 and May 2018’s rate of 2.59. For the first six months of the year, the reporting carriers posted a mishandled baggage rate of 2.82 per 1,000 passengers, up from the 2.56 rate for the same period last year.

Bumping/Oversales

Bumping/oversales data, unlike other air carrier data, are reported quarterly rather than monthly. For the second quarter of 2018, the 10 U.S. marketing carriers posted an involuntary denied boarding, or bumping, rate of 0.10 per 10,000 passengers, down from the marketing carrier rate of 0.15 for the first quarter of 2018. For the first six months of 2018, the marketing carriers posted a bumping rate of 0.13 per 10,000 passengers. See the August Air Travel Consumer Report for denied boarding numbers by airline.

For the second quarter of 2018, the 17 U.S. reporting carriers posted an involuntary denied boarding, or bumping, rate of 0.10 per 10,000 passengers, the lowest quarterly rate based on historical data dating back to 1995 and down from both the rate of 0.44 for the second quarter of 2017 and the previous lowest quarterly rate of 0.15 posted in the first quarter of 2018.

For the first six months of this year, the reporting carriers posted a bumping rate of 0.12 per 10,000 passengers, the lowest January through June rate based on historical data dating back to 1995 and down from the rate of 0.53 posted during the first six months of 2017.

In July 2018, U.S. airlines reported no incidents involving the death, injury, or loss of an animal while traveling by air, down from the four reports filed in both July 2017 and in June 2018.

In June 2018, U.S. airlines reported four incidents involving the death, injury, or loss of an animal while traveling by air, up from the three reports filed in both June 2017 and in May 2018. June’s incidents involved the deaths of three animals and injuries to one other animal.

Complaints About Airline Service

In July 2018, DOT received 1,665 complaints about airline service from consumers, down 12.7 percent from the total of 1,908 filed in July 2017, but up 12.8 percent from the 1,476 received in June 2018.

In June 2018, DOT received 1,476 complaints about airline service from consumers, down 8.2 percent from the total of 1,607 filed in June 2017, but up 33.9 percent from the 1,102 received in May 2018. From January to June 2018, the Department received 7,441 consumer complaints, down 17.6 percent from the total of 9,029 received during the first six months of 2017.

Complaints About Treatment of Disabled Passengers

In July 2018, the Department received a total of 83 disability-related complaints, down from the 92 complaints received in July 2017, but up from the 81 complaints received in June 2018.

In June 2018, the Department received a total of 81 disability-related complaints, up from both the 77 complaints received in June 2017 and the 66 complaints received in May 2018. For the first six months of the year, the Department received 399 disability-related complaints, down from the 410 filed during January-June 2017. All complaints alleging discrimination on the basis of disability are investigated.

Complaints About Discrimination

In July 2018, the Department received 14 complaints alleging discrimination – 11 regarding race, one regarding national origin, and two regarding color. This is an increase from the total of seven discrimination complaints recorded in July 2017 and the eight recorded in June 2018.

In June 2018, the Department received eight complaints alleging discrimination – seven regarding race and one regarding color. This is an increase from the total of three discrimination complaints recorded in June 2017, but down from the nine recorded in May 2018. For the first six months of this year, the Department received 45 discrimination complaints – 30 complaints regarding race, one complaint regarding ancestry/ethnicity, four complaints regarding national origin, four complaints regarding color, two complaints regarding religion, and four complaints regarding sex. This is up from the 44 recorded in January-June 2017. All complaints alleging discrimination are investigated to determine if there has been a violation(s) of the passenger’s civil rights.

Consumers may file air travel consumer or civil rights complaints online at http://airconsumer.dot.gov/escomplaint/ConsumerForm.cfm, by voicemail at (202) 366-2220, or by TTY at (202) 366-0511. They may also mail a complaint to the Aviation Consumer Protection Division, U.S. Department of Transportation, C-75, W96-432, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20590.

Consumers who want on-time performance data for specific flights should call their airline’s reservation number or their travel agent. This information is available on the computerized reservation systems used by these agents. The information is also available on the appropriate carrier’s website.